The invention is directed towards a medical connector apparatus and system. More particularly, this invention is directed towards a medical connector apparatus wherein the male cable connector additionally comprises a protrusion that may prevent complete insertion and electrical connection with a female cable connector when the female cable connector is not adapted to receive the male cable connector with the protrusion.
Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death in the United States, with one person dying every two minutes. Most sudden cardiac death is caused by ventricular fibrillation (xe2x80x9cVFxe2x80x9d), in which the heart""s muscle fibers contract without coordination, thereby interrupting normal blood flow to the body. When VF occurs, the patient loses consciousness as a result of the interruption in blood flow. The only known effective treatment for VF is electrical defibrillation, in which an electrical pulse is applied to the patient""s heart. The electrical pulse must be delivered within a short time after onset of VF in order for the patient to have any reasonable chance of survival. Electrical defibrillation may also be used to treat shockable ventricular tachycardia (xe2x80x9cVTxe2x80x9d). Accordingly, defibrillation is the appropriate therapy for any shockable rhythm, i.e., VF or shockable VT. In delivering defibrillation therapy to treat VF or shockable VT, because the cardiac rhythm is disorganized, delivery of therapy is not synchronized to the cardiac rhythm. Defibrillators include manual defibrillators and automatic or semi-automatic defibrillators (AEDs).
Because of size and complexity, manual defibrillators are typically used only by emergency medical personnel with advanced training in interpreting ECG signals. Manual defibrillators enable the trained personnel to select energy settings for delivery of electrical therapy. AEDs on the other hand, may be used by lay persons with minimal training because AEDs are designed to analyze the heart rhythm and to determine the appropriateness of defibrillation therapy for the user. Thus, the user of the AED need only know how to deploy the AED and, in the case of semi-automatic AEDs, activate therapy delivery upon AED instruction.
As the use of AEDs has become increasingly common, it has become important for defibrillators, particularly AEDs, to be able to treat a wide variety of patients using one device. As new devices are built that take into consideration the need to deliver defibrillation to a wide variety of patients, changes to electrode pad designs will result to accommodate these needs. However, because older AEDs and manual defibrillators are not configured to accommodate multiple electrode pad configurations, such as pediatric electrode pads, it is important that such new pads are not usable in those devices. For example, in some instances the new pads may include circuitry, such as an attenuator, that affects the performance of the electrode pad or reduces the amount of energy delivered. Equally important, is preventing electrode pads that include, for example, attenuation circuitry from being used in a manual defibrillator because the operator could manually select an appropriate energy level for therapy and then have that energy attenuated to a lower amount. The net effect being that the desired amount of energy is not delivered to the patient.
Therefore, what is needed is a medical connector system that enables a manual defibrillator to use unattenuated AED electrode pads or other pads appropriate for use with the defibrillator but which does not allow the use of, for example, attenuated AED electrode pads for use on pediatric patients.
This invention has a male cable connector and a female cable receiving housing and combinations thereof. Together the male cable connector and female cable receiving housing form an electrode system. The male cable connector has a shell having an interior surface and an exterior surface; at least two electrical conductors electrically connected to one or more conductive sockets formed within the interior surface of the shell; a semi-cylindrical channel formed in the shell adapted to slide over and surround a semi-cylindrical surface of a female cable-receiving housing unit into which the cable connector is inserted to make electrical contact between the cable connector and the housing unit; and a protrusion extending from the shell and adapted to slide over a wall of the female cable-receiving housing unit. A wiping portion may be included on the male cable connector to provide a wiping action when the male cable connector is inserted into the female cable-receiving housing. A light covering may also be provided. The male cable connector may be in the form of an adapter or may be electrically connected to electrodes, the defibrillator, or both electrodes and defibrillator. Electrodes include monitoring electrodes, pacing electrodes, defibrillation electrodes, or electrodes capable of performing any combination thereof. The electrodes may be adult electrodes or pediatric electrodes. Where pediatric electrodes are used, the electrodes may be attenuated or unattenuated. As discussed above, there are at least two electrical conductors connected to at least one conductive socket. However, other combinations are possible. For example, four electrical conductors could be electrically connected to two conductive sockets. The protrusion of the male cable connector could be in the form of a clip, a skirt, a shroud, or any other suitable non-rib protrusion. It is contemplated that the protrusion is formed so that it slides over the wall of the female cable-receiving housing. The male cable connector may also be adapted to electrically mate with a female cable-receiving housing when the female cable-receiving housing has an interior chamber with a semi-cylindrical surface extending into the interior chamber, at least two electrical connectors within the chamber, a front end having an aperture for receiving the electrical medical cable connector, and an accommodation enabling the protrusion of the male cable connector to slide over the wall of the female cable-receiving housing.
An electrical medical connector apparatus may also comprise: a female cable-receiving housing and an electrical medical cable connector, the female cable-receiving housing having an interior chamber with a semi-cylindrical surface extending into the interior chamber, the female cable-receiving housing further comprising at least two housed electrical connectors therein, and a front end having an aperture for receiving an electrical medical cable connector, wherein the male electrical medical cable connector comprises, at least two electrical conductors electrically connected to one or more conductive sockets within a shell of the electrical medical cable connector, wherein the conductive electrical sockets of the male cable connectors is connected to the electrical conductors; a semi-cylindrical channel formed in the shell adapted to slide over and surround the semi-cylindrical surface of the housing unit when the cable connector is inserted to make electrical contact between the cable connector and the housing unit, and further wherein the shell of the electrical medical cable connector has a protrusion adapted to slide over a wall of the female cable-receiving housing. The electrical medical cable connector could then further comprise a wiping portion adapted to providing a wiping action to the housed electrical connectors. Also, the housing unit may be formed from a rigid material and the electrical medical cable connector may be formed from a pliable material.
A method of using a medical connector system of this invention would comprise the steps of: electrically connecting a male medical connector to a pair of electrodes; inserting the male medical connector having a protrusion into a female cable-receiving housing wherein, if the female cable-receiving housing enables the protrusion of the male medical connector to be accommodated along an exterior wall of the female cable-receiving housing upon insertion of the male medical connector into the female cable-receiving housing, an electrical connection between the male medical connector and the female cable-receiving housing will be made, and if the female cable-receiving housing does not enable the protrusion of the male medical connector to be accommodated along an exterior wall of the female cable-receiving housing upon insertion of the male medical connector into the female cable-receiving housing, an electrical connection between the male medical connector and the female cable-receiving housing will not be made. The additional step of electrically connecting the female cable receiving housing to a defibrillator could also be performed, and would be appropriate where, for example, the female cable-receiving housing is an adapter or is located on a patient cable. Either or both of the electrically connecting steps could be performed at time of manufacture or at another time, such as during deployment.
A method of using a medical connector system alternatively would comprise: electrically connecting a male medical connector to a pair of pediatric electrodes; inserting the male medical connector having a protrusion into a female cable-receiving housing wherein, if the female cable-receiving housing enables the protrusion of the male medical connector to be accommodated along an exterior wall of the female cable-receiving housing upon insertion of the male medical connector into the female cable-receiving housing, an electrical connection between the male medical connector and the female cable-receiving housing will be made, and if the female cable-receiving housing does not enable the protrusion of the male medical connector to be accommodated along an exterior wall of the female cable-receiving housing upon insertion of the male medical connector into the female cable-receiving housing, an electrical connection between the male medical connector and the female cable-receiving housing will not be made. The additional step of electrically connecting the female cable receiving housing to a defibrillator could also be performed, and would be appropriate where, for example, the female cable-receiving housing is an adapter or is located on a patient cable. Again, either or both of the electrically connecting steps could be performed at time of manufacture or at another time, such as during deployment.